Harvard refugee Chinese students hunker down as US blocks foreign enrollment

BEIJING - Chinese students at Harvard were cancelling flights home on May 23 and seeking legal advice on staying in the United States after President Donald Trump’s administration blocked the famed university from enrolling foreign students.

The order, which said the university coordinated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP),among other accusations, will force current foreign students to transfer to other schools or lose their legal status and could be widened to other colleges.

Harvard called the government’s action “unlawful” and said it was “fully committed” to educating foreign students, of which Chinese nationals form the largest group at the elite Ivy League university in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“I think the Chinese community definitely feels like a more targeted entity compared to other groups,” said Mr Zhang, a 24-year-old studying for the PhD in physics.

“Some friends gave me advice that I should try not to stay in my current accommodation if things escalate, because they think it’s possible that an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent can take you from your apartment,” said Mr Zhang, who did not give his first name for security reasons.

Mr Zhang says many among Harvard’s Chinese students are worried about their visa status and internship prospects, though others believe the school is likely to win any legal battles.

The number of Chinese international students in the US has dropped to about 277,000 in 2024 from a high of around 370,000 in 2019, driven partly by growing tension between the world’s two biggest economies and heightened US government scrutiny of some Chinese students.

Chinese nationals made up a fifth of Harvard’s foreign student intake in 2024, the university says.

“Our teachers have sent us an email saying the school is actively working hard on a response within the next 72 hours and aims to negotiate with